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If you’re a fan of Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies, this recipe is for you!
With my immense cookie knowledge (don’t laugh, that’s a real thing), I knew I could create a recipe for thin and crispy cookies.
I know some people who love this texture and I do crave it every once in a while.
If you’ve ever had Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, then this recipe creates results that are almost identical. The only difference? My Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe has that same crunch but also a slight hint of chewiness in the center, which I really enjoy.
They’re positively addictive!
Be sure to read through the pink tip box just below for some crucial tips and tricks to make these cookies thin, crispy and utterly delicious!
How to Make Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Key Ingredients for CRISPY Cookies!
- Melted butter – To achieve thin and crisp cookies, I’ve discovered that melted butter is really crucial. Melted butter helps the cookies to spread out and become flatter with crisp edges.
- Sugar – Another key trick is using more granulated sugar than brown sugar, which will also help produce flat, chewy, crunchy cookies. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.
- Corn syrup – A touch of corn syrup in this dough aids in browning and caramelization, giving the cookies great flavor and browned crunchy bottoms.
- Milk – A splash of milk added to the dough also helps to create flatter cookies by adding more moisture to the dough, so it spreads faster in the oven.
- Baking soda – Make sure your baking soda is FRESH for this recipe. It’s critical to the spread and browning of these cookies which gives them their crispy thin texture. Learn more about baking soda and baking powder here.
- Salt – Not a key ingredient for crispiness but since these crispy cookies contain three kinds of sugar for maximum spread, we want to be sure to balance the sweetness with the salt. I prefer fine sea salt but you can also use table salt. Just don’t use kosher salt because it won’t dissolve and mix in as evenly. Learn about the different types of salt here.
Do I Have to Use Corn Syrup?
If you can’t find corn syrup, you can use golden syrup instead. If you can’t find or don’t want to use either, you can technically leave it out of this recipe. You’ll still have a delicious cookie, but the texture won’t quite be as thin and crispy.
The Most Important Part of This Recipe = Measuring Your Flour Correctly!
Anytime someone tells me they made this Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe and the cookies didn’t come out thin and crispy, I can all but guarantee it was because the flour wasn’t properly measured. It’s ALL too easy to accidentally over-measure your flour by compacting too much into the measuring cup. Here are some flour tips:
- If you’re not already measuring your flour with a digital kitchen scale, or at the very least using the spoon & level method, I highly highly recommend you read my post on How to Measure Flour ASAP.
- Also, make sure you’re using the RIGHT kind of flour. For best results in this recipe, don’t use a high-protein flour like King Arthur.
- This recipe was tested successfully with Gold Medal Bleached All Purpose Flour (blue label).
- Just take a look at what a difference measuring your flour correctly can make:
Tips for Baking Crispy Cookies:
- Don’t overmix the cookie dough. We really want to avoid activating webs of gluten in this recipe. That’s why you should avoid a high-protein flour. But you should also avoid over-mixing the dough (which is really more like a thick batter in consistency). Stir in the dry ingredients until JUST combined.
- Use the correct baking pans. If possible, avoid baking these cookies on nonstick or greased cookie sheets. Use unlined light-colored metal baking pans lined with parchment paper. The dark nonstick finish of some pans can enhance browning and even cause cookies to burn on the bottom, especially in this particular recipe. Nonstick cooking spray can increase spreading while cookies bake in the oven, which we don’t want in this particular recipe since the dough will spread enough on its own.
- Make sure your oven temperature is accurate. An oven thermometer is the best way to do this. If you’re unsure, at the very least preheat your oven for an extra 10 minutes before baking anything. If your oven isn’t properly preheated or if it tends to run cold, you won’t get crispy cookies. Learn more about ovens here.
- Bake time: I’ve had success with baking these Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies in my oven for about 12 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through for ultra-crispy cookie edges.
How to Shape Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
A spring-loaded cookie scoop makes quick and easy work of portioning out the cookie dough. Especially because this dough is more wet and sticky than others. Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon or medium-sized cookie scoop. Spray the inside of the scoop with nonstick cooking spray if you find your dough is sticking.
How to Store Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are definitely best served soon after baking, as that’s when they’ll be the crispiest. They will soften slightly the longer they’re stored. That’s why I recommend freezing this dough, so you can have perfectly thin & crispy cookies at a moment’s notice! You can also re-crisp by reheating the baked cookies in a 350°F oven for a few minutes.
How to Freeze Cookie Dough Instructions
I love to scoop out and freeze balls of cookie dough to bake whenever I crave cookies! Check out this post on how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen. These cookies will bake up thin and crispy straight from the freezer! But to ensure that distinct texture, you may want to defrost the dough first.
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
Check out ALL of my cookie recipes and cookie baking science tips & tricks here!
If you like this recipe, find it and 50 others plus TONS of information on the science of baking in my cookbook – now available on Amazon US: The Ultimate Cookie Handbook!
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1 1/3
cups
(169 grams) all purpose flour,
measured correctly
-
1/2
teaspoon
baking soda
-
1/4
teaspoon
fine salt
-
1
stick (113 grams) unsalted butter,
melted and cooled
-
1/2
cup
(100 grams) granulated sugar
-
1/3
cup
(67 grams) packed light brown sugar
-
2
tablespoons
light corn syrup or golden syrup
-
1
large egg,
at room temperature
-
1
tablespoon
milk (any kind)
-
2
teaspoons
vanilla extract
-
1
cup
(170 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
-
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
-
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
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In a large bowl, vigorously beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup with a spatula until very well combined. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat vigorously until very well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until just combined, being careful not to over-mix. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. The dough will be very loose, sticky, and more like batter in consistency.
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Using a medium (1 1/2-tablespoon size) spring-loaded scoop, drop balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing at least 2 1/2 inches apart. Don't worry if the dough isn't perfectly round. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown and flat, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. Bake one sheet at a time for even cooking. When you remove the baking sheet from the oven, tap it against the counter.
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Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before using a thin spatula to remove to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. If desired, reheat the cookies in a 350°F oven for 3 to 5 minutes, or until warmed through.
This recipe was originally published in 2013 and updated with new photos and article improvements. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies. These are fabulous. I’ve been making Nestle’s Toll House chocolate chip cookies for fifty years and they are the all time classic but folks, these are better. It’s the extra taste of the corn syrup, which whole food organic food cookbook authors like me abhor but there are times to make exceptions and with the holidays coming up, this is the time. The only downside? How will I ever go back! Thanks Tessa.
I’m a huge fan of thin and crispy cookies and this recipe did not disappoint! I didn’t have corn syrup but subbed light maple syrup (you could not detect any maple flavor)- these were absolutely delicious. I followed her instructions for measuring and ALL the tips and tricks, they are (IMO) the perfect cookie. 10/10 ⭐️
Woohoo! So thrilled to hear that you enjoyed these cookies so much, Julie!
Can you share the best way to store these so they stay crispy? Both times I’ve made them they were soft the next day. I did wait until they were 100% cooled.
Thank you!
Hi Julie! Unfortunately, there’s no way to store these that will totally prevent them softening over time. Check out the tips Tessa included in the pink tip box (the last items) above the recipe for more tips on this 🙂
Thank you we all loved them .
The ratios don’t seem right to me as my cookies came out a little puffy and definitely not crispy. They didn’t thin out in the oven and I think there was too much baking soda and flour relative to butter, so the consistency of the dough wasn’t thin enough.
Hi Malini! If your cookies are puffy and not thin and crispy, it sounds like you may have accidentally over-measured the flour. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe – resulting in cookies that are thicker and have less spread, as well as less flavor, than they should have. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time. When it comes to the leavener, too much baking soda won’t cause the cookies to be too thick, as baking soda actually promotes spread! Learn more about Baking Powder vs. Baking Soda in Tessa’s article here. I hope you try these cookies again! Happy baking 🙂
Admittedly I discovered after starting that I had no corn syrup so I left that out. Otherwise I followed the recipe, even used King Arthur Flour. My cookies came out okay but not flat enough. I guess that was because I didn’t used corn syrup. Also my oven doesn’t cook hot enough so it took much longer than 12 minutes. I did feel the cookies were a bit bland so I sprinkled a tiny bit of kosher salt on top of some batches and that helped a lot!
I made it and it was bigger than I expected but taste wise, DELICIOUS! Love ittt. Will probably make this again
Excellent cookie. I cooked it until brown on edges. My oven cooks hot. My husband wants his cookies thin and crispy. He likes white choc and these are great with white choc chips.
These are just perfect !